I work in the healthcare technology/interoperability space. A ton of startups here don’t seem to be affected. The one I work for is certainly thriving.
Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
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Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#22I don’t know if you can count them as a startup still, but Vercel seems to be doing all the right things during this downturn. Connecting up GitHub and watching it runs tests, build, and deploy without much configuration was very gratifying for me. I haven’t felt that feeling towards a tech product in years. It was so simple and easy, the same feeling I felt the first time I used Uber. The same feeling as our first S…
Is this similar to Netlify? This has changed everything for me when it comes to deploying mini test sites or tools. No more nginx wrangling just to get a script available online.
I believe Netlify is similar.. Next/Nuxt was created by Vercel though as far as I understand.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#23I find the whole "economic gloom" sentiment a bit odd. We're at extremely low unemployment, and GDP took a small dip in Q1/Q2 but is projected to start growing again in the second half of the year. The S&P 500 is down less than 10% from it's all-time high. Inflation was an issue for a while, but a lot of that seemed to be driven more by temporary supply constraints in certain sectors than any actual currency devaluat…
I think many of the impacts to the economy from inflation and interest rate increases take time before we see the full picture.
For example, the housing market seemed to still be hot even with increased rates, but that is because of the delay from sales to closings. Last month started showing decreases in sales in areas that were previously on fire. And anecdotally, listings in my area that would have sold in 1 day above the listed price which are currently still on market with multiple price cuts.
The other big factor that is lingering are the student loan repayments which have been deferred for now. That is a huge chunk of monthly expense if/when they are reinstated which will have an impact on discretionary spending, etc.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#24I find the whole "economic gloom" sentiment a bit odd. We're at extremely low unemployment, and GDP took a small dip in Q1/Q2 but is projected to start growing again in the second half of the year. The S&P 500 is down less than 10% from it's all-time high. Inflation was an issue for a while, but a lot of that seemed to be driven more by temporary supply constraints in certain sectors than any actual currency devaluat…
> We're at extremely low unemployment
Back in 2018/2019, when I got curious and looked at what signals people look at for recessions, too low unemployment was one of them.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#25The availability of cheap and easy debt is the main thing that has changed in this economy. Startups that don't rely on debt for financing are still doing fine.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#26I find the whole "economic gloom" sentiment a bit odd. We're at extremely low unemployment, and GDP took a small dip in Q1/Q2 but is projected to start growing again in the second half of the year. The S&P 500 is down less than 10% from it's all-time high. Inflation was an issue for a while, but a lot of that seemed to be driven more by temporary supply constraints in certain sectors than any actual currency devaluat…
Knowing people that make under 60k a year, and how harder their lives got and how hard it is to pay back loans and other obligations they where ulitmately strong armed into taking to improve their position. Not to mention how alot of western nations have a large majority of people are pay check to pay check regardless of their tax bracket. Working class is a good litmus of how the economy is doing vs S&P because spec…
It's always been hard for people in those income buckets. But if the question is: are we in a massive economic downturn over the past half year, it's really hard for me to look at the data and answer with a yes.
One thing I'm looking at is:
https://realtimeinequality.org/
And that's showing that for the first time in over a decade, the bottom half is seeing real wage/wealth gains, even after recent inflation. Am I missing something? Because your sentiment is the more common one.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#27I find the whole "economic gloom" sentiment a bit odd. We're at extremely low unemployment, and GDP took a small dip in Q1/Q2 but is projected to start growing again in the second half of the year. The S&P 500 is down less than 10% from it's all-time high. Inflation was an issue for a while, but a lot of that seemed to be driven more by temporary supply constraints in certain sectors than any actual currency devaluat…
> and inflation already seems to be dying down anyway. I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶o̶p̶t̶i̶m̶i̶s̶t̶i̶c̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶f̶l̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶8̶.̶5̶%̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶-̶t̶o̶-̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶0̶.̶6̶%̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶v̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶.̶ ̶W̶e̶'̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶e̶v̶e̶r̶a̶l̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶d̶r̶o̶p̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶f̶l̶a̶t̶i̶o…
You're not ever going to see long-term, broad price drops. That would be deflation.
Your statement appears highly misleading, as if you don't understand the topic. Prices (in the U.S.) did not rise at all in July, so it's not clear what you could mean by "8.5% month-to-month" which, as stated, would be a spectacular and unprecedented rate. The month-over-month inflation in July was none. Prices rose 8.5% vs. year-ago.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#28FTX exchange seems to be going great and doing fine. Tons of revenue, very low head count and lots of cash at their disposal. So much, that they are offering to take over other failing startups affected by the downturn. That is a sign of a company that will survive in the long term since they are thriving even in these conditions.
They have a lot of cash, but SBF theoretically could close shop and cash out if he feels the amount of money he will be able to donate will be down for the longterm. The entire point of FTX, ultimately, is to take money from crypto traders and put it into Effective Altruism charities.
> The entire point of FTX, ultimately, is to take money from crypto traders and put it into Effective Altruism charities.
The entire point of FTX is to profit from the unregulated crypto markets by front-running his clients with the FTX-Alameda combo and pump (to bring in new cows to milk) and dumping (to crash the markets and buy sinking companies on fire sale) the markets; while waving the altruism flag.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#29proptech is continuing to thrive. people need a roof over their heads whether it's to rent or own so startups solving problems surrounding renting/buying/managing/living in a home, apartment, condo, association, trailer, mobile park, co-op, furnished, short term, etc... will continue to thrive.
btw, if anyone reading on HN is interested in joining a startup tackling the property management angle, hmu! my company helps manage 200k+ rental units across america and always interested in capable and enthusiastic folks to join.
Re: Ask HN: Which startups are thriving in the downturn?
#30I find the whole "economic gloom" sentiment a bit odd. We're at extremely low unemployment, and GDP took a small dip in Q1/Q2 but is projected to start growing again in the second half of the year. The S&P 500 is down less than 10% from it's all-time high. Inflation was an issue for a while, but a lot of that seemed to be driven more by temporary supply constraints in certain sectors than any actual currency devaluat…
> What exactly is everyone so scared about that we all seem to think the economy is headed for a major recession?
The economy seems to be doing well in 2019 dollars. However you have to take account that almost 2x more money have been printed since then. And if you divide all our numbers by 2, we are already in an economic disaster.